Reforming Parliament seat distribution could help douse Western separatist flames: report

A new report proposes establishing a 350-seat Parliament in an effort to correct for imbalances in the House of Commons that have long left Ontario, Alberta and B.C. underrepresented compared with other provinces.

In the study, the Calgary-based Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy points out that Alberta currently has the lowest representation among provinces in the House, with one member of Parliament for every 135,057 citizens, when compared against 2025 population numbers. British Columbia has one MP per 133,077, while Ontario has one per 132,645. That is well higher than Prince Edward Island (44,820), Quebec (116,816), Saskatchewan (89,351) and other Canadian provinces.

“Political representation in Canada at present is not representative of the actual populations in each province,” it said.

The report comes as resentments over a range of issues — including a lack of federal representation in the House of Commons and Senate — has fed separatist sentiments in Alberta in particular. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has proposed a referendum in October that will ask, among other things, whether Canada should amend the Canadian constitution to “abolish the unelected federal Senate.”

The Aristotle study, called “It’s 2026, not 1867: A 21st-century review of population and representation in the House of Commons,” compared representation in both the federal chambers over the last 50 years, and found that under-representation in Ontario, Alberta and B.C. has remained constant.

As of 2025, British Columbia was the most under-represented province in the Senate compared to its population, with 953,720 people per senator. Alberta was the next highest at 826,683. P.E.I., by comparison, had one per 44,820 people, Nova Scotia had one per 107,963 and Quebec had one senator per 379,651 people.

“One part of our rationale for change is that continued imbalances in representation will exacerbate Western alienation and feed potential separatist sentiment in Western Canada,” the authors said. “Another part of the rationale for change is that the principle of representation by population is critically necessary for legitimacy in a democracy, and Canadians deserve a House of Commons that reflects 21st-century realities, not those of 1867 or even 1982.”

The report was co-authored by Mark Milke, the head of Aristotle Foundation and former Canadian Taxpayers Federation director; Ven Venkatachalam, an economist; and Gordon Campbell, a former Canadian diplomat and premier of B.C. from 2001 to 2011.

“Canada’s House of Commons should reflect 21st-century population realities and restore a greater sense of fairness across the country,” Milke said in a statement.

The imbalance in the House of Commons or Senate is the result of a number of legal provisions, including a clause that stipulates that provinces should not have fewer MPs than they have senators. That, combined with another clause that ensures provinces have no fewer MPs than they had under a pre-set benchmark (which the Liberal government recently updated to 2019 levels), has led to “chronic underrepresentation” among some provinces, the report said.

As a potential remedy, the report’s authors suggest establishing a 350-seat Parliament, up from the current 343, to adjust for imbalances.

Under such a scenario — which the authors note would require legal and constitutional changes — Ontario would gain 12 seats, British Columbia would gain five, and Alberta would gain five. Saskatchewan, meanwhile, would lose three seats, Manitoba would lose one, and Quebec and the Atlantic provinces would all forgo two seats apiece.

The seat count in the House would be capped at 350, combined with regular redistribution to ensure fair representation according to population.

The authors acknowledge that cutting back representation for many provinces is “not a middle reform,” but argue it could be necessary for dampening Western separatist frustrations.

“In a national and constitutional crisis — should separatism soar in one or more Western provinces or revitalize in Quebec — fairness in parliamentary representation should be on the negotiating table.”

Gordon Campbell, who wrote the report’s foreword, said that Canada has gradually drifted away from its “one person, one vote” ideals.

While the country has made major democratic strides since confederation, like granting women the right to vote, Campbell said the weighting of voting power has become skewed away from a few select provinces, undermining the democratic process.

“That founding principle of democracy has been severely eroded in Canada today,” he wrote. “Different citizens in different parts of the country have different rights — whether they are indigenous or non-indigenous, or are considered ‘privileged’ or ‘oppressed.’ When Canadians go to the ballot box and cast a vote, more inequality results: the weight of their vote differs by province, with some worth more and others worth less.”

• Canadians open to negotiating with Western separatists: report
• Carney warns that push for Alberta separatism referendum could be 'dangerous bluff'

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